The Soviet Vostok-2M carrier rocket has its only launch failure (out of 93), due to an upper stage problem.
2
7 years ago, in 1964:
Ranger 6 lands on the Moon, but its TV camera fails.
3
8 years ago, in 1963:
Luna E-6 No.3 (Luna 1963B) is launched to perform a soft landing on the Moon, but fails to reach orbit and reenters the atmosphere.
6 years ago, in 1965:
OSO-B2 (Orbiting Solar Observatory) is successfully launched into orbit.
5 years ago, in 1966:
Luna 9 is the first spacecraft to land on the Moon.
1 year ago, in 1970:
SERT-II is launched for a 6 month test of a mercury ion thruster engine.
4
10 years ago, in 1961:
Venera 1VA is launched to Venus, first ever planetary mission, but fails to leave Earth orbit.
9 years ago, in 1962:
Comet Seki-Lines (C/1962 C1, Great Comet of 1962) is discovered independently by Tsutomu Seki and Richard Lines.
5 years ago, in 1966:
Luna 9 sends the first pictures from the lunar surface, which are intercepted and published by the British.
5
128 years ago, in 1843:
The Great Comet of 1843 is first observed.
4 years ago, in 1967:
Lunar Orbiter 3 is launched to photograph the future Apollo and Surveyor landing sites.
This year:
Apollo 14 lands on the moon.
6
5 years ago, in 1966:
The Soviet Proton-2 satellite, designed for the study of high and ultra-high energy particles, ends its mission.
7
3 years ago, in 1968:
Luna E-6LS No.112 (Luna 1968A) is launched to enter a selenocentric orbit, but the third stage run out of fuel and fails to reach orbit.
8
4 years ago, in 1967:
Lunar Orbiter 3 goes into orbit around the Moon.
9
58 years ago, in 1913:
Several hundred meteors are seen streaming across the sky from Saskatchewan to Bermuda.
This year:
Apollo 14 splashes down in the South Pacific Ocean and is retrieved by the USS New Orleans.
10
37 years ago, in 1934:
4179 Toutatis is first sighted as object 1934 CT, but is lost soon after.
11
171 years ago, in 1800:
While testing filters for observing the Sun, William Herschel discovers infrared radiation in sunlight.
1 year ago, in 1970:
Osumi (or Ohsumi), the first Japanese satellite, is launched.
12
24 years ago, in 1947:
An approximately 100-ton meteorite explodes and impacts in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, USSR.
10 years ago, in 1961:
Venera 1 is launched for Venus, but communications fail before arrival.
13
14
8 years ago, in 1963:
Syncom 1 is launched to be the first geosynchronous communications satellite, but fails before reaching orbit.
15
407 years ago, in 1564:
Galileo Galilei is born in Pisa, Duchy of Florence, Italy.
126 years ago, in 1845:
The 72-inch Rosse (Leviathan of Parsonstown) Telescope sees "first light".
16
23 years ago, in 1948:
Gerard Kuiper discovers one of Uranus' moons, Miranda.
10 years ago, in 1961:
Explorer 9, a balloon satellite for air density research, is launched, becoming the first spacecraft launched from Wallops Island to achieve orbit.
6 years ago, in 1965:
AS-103 (SA-9), is successfully launched, carrying the third 'boilerplate' version of the Apollo spacecraft and the first Pegasus micrometeroid detection satellite.
17
12 years ago, in 1959:
NASA launches the first weather satellite, Vanguard 2.
6 years ago, in 1965:
Ranger 8 is launched to the Moon.
18
41 years ago, in 1930:
Clyde W. Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
19
498 years ago, in 1473:
Nicolaus Copernicus is born in Thorn, Royal Prussia, Kingdom of Poland.
184 years ago, in 1787:
William Herschel's 40-foot (Great Forty-Foot) Telescope sees "first light".
7 years ago, in 1964:
Zond 3MV-1 No.2 (Venera 1964A) is launched for Venus, but the third stage explodes.
7 years ago, in 1964:
The Soviet Molniya-M medium carrier rocket is launched on its maiden flight.
2 years ago, in 1969:
Luna E-8 No.201 (Luna 1969A) is launched to perform a soft landing and deploy the Lunokhod No.201 rover on the Moon, but the payload shroud collapses, ending the mission.
20
24 years ago, in 1947:
A U.S. launched V-2 rocket sends the first animals (fruit flies) into space, which are successfully recovered.
9 years ago, in 1962:
Three-orbit flight that placed the first American into earth orbit, John H. Glenn, Jr. (Mercury/Friendship 7).
8 years ago, in 1963:
The Friendship 7 spacecraft is formally presented to the National Air Museum of the Smithsonian Institution.
6 years ago, in 1965:
Ranger 8 sends back 7,137 hi-res pictures before crashing into the lunar surface.
21
8 years ago, in 1963:
Telstar 1 goes out of service, mostly due to radiation from high-altitude nuclear bomb testing.
2 years ago, in 1969:
On the first test of the Soviet N-1 rocket booster, the Zond L1S-1 capsule is launched to be put into lunar orbit, but the rocket fails 66 seconds after liftoff.
22
5 years ago, in 1966:
The Soviet dogs Veterok and Ugolyok are launched on board Cosmos 110, and spend 22 days in orbit.
23
24
22 years ago, in 1949:
A WAC Corporal with a V-2 first stage is flown at 5150 mph (8290 kph); first flight of over five times the speed of sound.
25
2 years ago, in 1969:
Mariner 6 is launched to Mars.
26
355 years ago, in 1616:
Galileo Galilei is ordered by the Inquisition to abandon the Copernican theories.
188 years ago, in 1783:
NGC 2360 (Caroline's Cluster), an open cluster in the constellation Canis Major, is discovered by Caroline Herschel.
5 years ago, in 1966:
AS-201 is successfully launched; the first flight of the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn IB launch vehicle.
27
128 years ago, in 1843:
The Great Comet of 1843 makes a very close perihelion of less than 515,000 miles (830,000 km).
29 years ago, in 1942:
James Stanley Hey accidentaly discovers radio emmissions coming from the Sun.
10 years ago, in 1961:
The Soviet R-7 Semyorka ICBM makes its final flight.
28
415 years ago, in 1556:
The German astronomer Joachim Heller discovers the Great Comet of 1556 (C/1556 D1).
12 years ago, in 1959:
Discoverer 1, a US Air Force reconnaissance satellite, is the first satellite launched toward the South Pole in an effort to enter polar orbit, but is unsuccessful.
It's been 3961 days
